


An Act of Kindess

by AmaranthPrincess21



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Can be read as /reader or /my unit, Gen, I just love leo okay, Leo is sorta nice, Other, also there's romance if you squint, and at the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-08-12 13:51:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7937140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmaranthPrincess21/pseuds/AmaranthPrincess21
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Doing domestic work is difficult, but there aren't many other options available to you. It's work as a servant or starve to death. While you work to try and rise out of poverty, help comes from a very unexpected source.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Act of Kindess

The Fortress was a cold but interesting place to work. It was dark, damp, and dismal, but it always had a huge flurry of activity. While King Garon’s adopted child permanently lived in the Fortress, their siblings would visit often. You only ever interacted with them when you had to serve meals, but that was enough to get a fairly good grasp of their personalities. Princess Elise was kind and always gave compliments; Crown Prince Xander would sometimes smile as he ate something delicious but never said anything; only the best foods got Princess Camilla’s kind words; and Prince Leo never had a kind word to say if he spoke at all. 

With the exception of quiet and somewhat of a jerk Prince Leo, you liked the royal children. The only downside of their frequent visits was your workload got significantly heavier. So when it was announced Prince Leo was making a solo trip to the Fortress, you weren’t looking forward to the visit.

Preparations were exhausting. Cleaning his room took an eternity to complete, adding new books to his small personal library was a pain (not to mention it sparked jealousy - how amazing it would be to own so many books), and preparing extra food left you tired and never wanting to look at another tomato ever, ever again. 

He came with the usual amount of fanfare and the next day you finally had a moment to rest. You could sit and read for at least an hour, maybe even two. Lunch wouldn’t be for another four hours and it’d only take two hours to prepare. You could sit in the courtyard of the Fortress and read to your heart’s content. Sitting under a tree, you opened  _ The Saga of the Dusk Dragon, _ the only book in your possession: a religious text that had been bought from a merchant for an exorbitant amount of money, but it was cheapest you could find. Only the rich could afford books, and good ones at that. Everyone else was not so lucky. 

You flipped to where you had left off and slowly started reading. It was a hard text to read, even more to understand, but past readings with priests helping you made things easier to decipher. Teaching yourself to read was difficult and often times it felt overbearing and suffocating, but you kept going. Being able to read could open up so many opportunities for you. And once you knew how to read, writing would be a breeze to learn. Books were going to help you escape poverty. Books were going to save you from servitude. 

“What are you reading?” A man’s voice broke the tranquil silence of the courtyard.

“Prince Leo I didn’t hear you coming!” You were on your feet in seconds, quickly brushing any dirt or debris off your uniform. Part of you wished you could just as easily brush the redness from your face. What if he thought you were shirking your duties? Would he punish you? “I’m, uh, I’m reading  _ The Saga of the Dusk Dragon.” _

“That? You don’t look like the kind of person that spends their free time reading religious texts,” he replied bluntly. 

“Oh, well, it’s really the only accessible reading material for the lower classes, my Lord,” you told him sheepishly. He raised a fair eyebrow.

“You mean you can’t get anything else?”

“Yes, my Lord, that’s the case.” His eyebrows quirked and for someone considered a genius, you imagined this look of confusion didn’t often happen. That was a shame; he was very handsome and this look made him look even cuter. 

“That’s a shame. Are you reading it all the way through? How far are you?” he questioned.

“I - I, uh, I skip around. I’m not able to read the whole thing by myself.” Heat boiled painfully under your skin and if this conversation wasn’t bad enough, the blush in your cheeks made it worse. “I’m just learning to read.” 

“Oh. I see.” He paused. “I’ll leave you to your reading. I shouldn’t have to tell you to make sure you don’t shirk your duties.”

“I’m not, my Lord. I’m not needed in the kitchens for another few hours.”

“Good.” And without another word he was gone. 

* * *

Lunch came and went without any incidents. Leo was silent as he ate and didn’t acknowledge you as you served food. You figured the morning was going to go down as an odd occurrence and it’d fade in your memory. That is, until you were pulled out of the kitchen by Gunther not too long after you started gathering ingredients for that night’s dinner.

“Can you take this up to Prince Leo’s chambers?” he asked, handing a platter full of tea and cookies to you.

“Sir, I have to go help with dinner -” You began, but Gunter silenced you with a wave of his hand.

“He specifically asked for you to this to him,” he said.  _ What? Why would he want me to do it? I just met him. _ Tales of lecherous nobles filled the servants’ quarters once night fell, but Prince Leo didn’t seem like the kind of man to take advantage of a servant. But it didn’t hurt to be cautious, just in case. After all, looks could be deceiving. They said King Garon used to be a ladies’ man but looking at him now, you were shocked he even managed to have kids at all. Who would want to bed _ that _ monstrosity?

Taking the platter from Gunter, you quickly made your way to Prince Leo’s bedroom. The faster this was done, the better. The cooks would need your assistance in the kitchen and after talking with him earlier, another conversation was bound to be disastrous and embarrassing. 

“My Lord? I’ve brought you tea and cookies,” you called through the door once you reached his chambers. 

“You can enter,” he replied. Awkwardly turning the handle with your knee, you pushed the door open and entered the room. It was fairly sparse. A small sitting area, his bed with a nightstand, bookshelves that were filled to the brim. It was just as well; now that he was older, he visited less frequently. Prince Leo sat on one of his sofas, a thick heavy book in his lap. He looked up as you approached. Nerves pricked your skin and you had to stop yourself from shuddering under his gaze. 

“Where would you like this, my Lord?” you asked politely. 

“On the table,” he responded. You tenderly put the platter down and quickly bowed to take your leave. “Don’t leave yet.” You froze for a second before turning back to him.

“Is there something else you need, Prince Leo?” He grabbed one of the books from the pile on the table and offered it to you.

“If you really want to learn to read, you need more books than just that old raggedy copy of  _ Dusk Dragon. _ You can borrow this for a while. It’s what I used when I was learning to read as a child. Just make sure you keep it clean and in good condition, all right?” 

“My Lord, I . . . I . . .” What could you possibly say? It was well known Prince Leo loved his books and to allow you to borrow one . . . well, he wasn’t known for his kindness. “I can’t begin to describe how grateful I am -”

“Don’t worry about it. Just keep it clean and give it back once you’re done,” he cut you off. 

“I will!” you replied enthusiastically as adrenaline flooded your system. “Thank you, Prince Leo!”

“I already told you that you didn’t have to thank me,” he said, waving you away with a flick of his wrist. As he turned away you could see the ghost of a grin on his face. You quickly took your leave, walking on air as you left the spacious bed chamber.

You slumped against the corridor wall, slowly sliding to the ground and hugging the book like a life preserver. This wasn’t a dream, was it? Did he really allow you to borrow this book? Did he really just help you try to further your education? Did he really smile? 

Perhaps he knew what this did, or perhaps not. But by giving you something easier to read, something that would help your goal of literacy, he was helping you escape this job. He was helping you with your education. His simple act of kindness would help you in ways even he probably couldn’t fathom. 


End file.
